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Gunter
Library and Museum
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, 2007 |
| History
in a Pecan Shell
Gunter, Texas got off to a late start in
the waning days of the 19th Century. The town was granted a post office in 1898
(name unknown) but the big jump-start came with the arrival of the railroad four
years later.
The railroad was the St. Louis, San Francisco and Texas
Railway and the town was named after John Gunter, a surveyor and land owner who
donated land for the town.
The town had a healthy population of 800 people in 1914. The populace was served
by 36 businesses, including the weekly Grayson County Advocate.
For reasons not explained, the population declined to 500 for the year of 1924
when the town incorporated but the Great Depression didn’t hit Gunter as hard
as it did other towns – depleting the number of residents to 475 for 1936.
Growth was slow over the next five decades and by 1991 Gunter had 926 people.
It reached 1,000 sometime in the 1990s. It was 1,230 for the 2000 Census. |
Gunter
City Hall and Post Office
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, 2007 |
| Photographer's
Note: Gunter is beginning to feel the start of expansion pressure from Dallas.
At the outer edge of growth. New schools and starting plans for new residental
growth. - Mike
Price, September 29, 2007 | |
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